Human Cloning (aka somatic cell nuclear transfer - SCNT) is an effort to create humans as "copies" of other humans. It is done by taking genetic material from a person's body cell and inserting it into a human egg, which is then stimulated to begin cell division. The cloned embryo is almost identical genetically to the person whose body cell (somatic cell) was used.
Did the passage of Constitutional Amendment 2 in the November 7, 2006 election enshrine the right to clone and kill human beings in the Missouri Constitution? Yes it did. Despite the ballot language, this amendment did not totally ban cloning. It only banned reproductive cloning -- the implantation of a cloned human into a womb for the purposes of live birth.
Human cloning is wrong, because it dehumanizes human reproduction. All cloning treats human beings as products, as mere carriers of traits that others find useful. Cloning human embryos for research (so-called "therapeutic cloning") demeans life, by creating new human lives solely to destroy them. Cloning embryos for live birth (so-called "reproductive cloning") violates human dignity, robbing the child of a real mother and father and of his or her own personal destiny. Moreover, attempts at live birth will require the "trial and error" deaths of countless human embryos. Dolly the cloned sheep was born after 276 failed attempts. The few cloned humans who survive may suffer from devastating health problems.
Banning only so-called "reproductive" cloning (the live birth of human clones) is wrong, because it authorizes cloning to create embryos so they can be killed for experimentation. This is not a ban on cloning at all. It allows cloning, then requires all cloned humans to be killed at a certain stage. This approach is not even effective in preventing the birth of clones: Once cloned embryos are readily available in laboratories, they will easily be implanted in wombs; then the only way to enforce the ban will be to force women to undergo abortions.
A full ban on human cloning will not interfere with medical research, because cloning embryos for stem cell experimentation is increasingly recognized as a wasteful, unreliable and unnecessary path to medical research. The most beneficial stem cell research today uses stem cells from adult tissue, umbilical cords, and other sources that involve no harm to human life. New cures for disease can be pursued without creating human lives in the laboratory solely to destroy them.
The effective and morally acceptable way to prevent human cloning is to forbid its use to make new humans in the first place.
An embryo is a human being in the embryonic stage of development.
We do not have the right to kill him or her in order to improve our own quality of life.
During this first month of life:
By the second month, the embryo has grown to where the head is almost one half of his or her total size, and brain tissue is growing rapidly.
By the sixth week, brain waves can be recorded, fingers and feet begin to develop, and facial features along with eyes are beginning to form.
During this month skeleton changes from cartilage to bone, 40 muscle sets begin to exercise, the nervous system responds with small movements to touch, and by eight weeks, all body systems are present.
From this point on, changes to the fetus (Latin for "offspring") will be primarily in size and refinement of body parts that have already been formed. But only if his or her life is allowed to continue.
When stem cells are harvested from embryos for research (ESCR), their lives, which began at the
moment of fertilization, are destroyed.
To find out more on bioethics and life in the womb, use the following resources:
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Copyright © 2006 Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Pro-life Ministry
All rights reserved.
Revised:
November 20, 2006